a brief history of early chinese philosophy - daisetz teitaro suzuki 1914

7/30/2019 A Brief History of Early Chinese Philosophy - Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki 1914

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PROBSTHAIN S ORIENTAL SERIES.VOL. VII.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF EARLY CHINESEPHILOSOPHY


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A BRIEF HISTORYOF EARLY CHINESEPHILOSOPHY

BYDAISETZ TEITARO SUZUKI

LECTURER IN THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY, TOKYO J AUTHOR OF"OUTLINES OF MAHAYANA BUDDHISM," ETC.

SECOND EDITION

PROBSTHAIN & CO.41. GREAT RUSSELL ST., LONDON, W.C.

1914.


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PREFACETHE contents of this book were originally publishedin The Monist (1907-1908) as three separate articles.Wishing to collect them in a compact form, so thatthey will be more accessible to the general public,the present writer has revised the text thoroughlyand added considerable matter in an effort to makeit more illuminating.

Since the last political revolution, China has becomethe cynosure of all the world. But, unfortunately,there are only a few scholars who really understandits people and their ways of thinking. If this firsthumble attempt to expound, more or less systematically, some of the fundamental features of their thought,which were manifested during the Ante-Ch in period,will contribute somewhat to the interpretation of thislong-misunderstood nation, the present work may besaid to have partially attained its purpose.

DAISETZ TEITABO SUZUKI.TOKYO,

December, 1913.


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CONTENTSPAGEPREFACE - - v

I. INTRODUCTION - iII. PHILOSOPHY - - 13

1. DUALISM, OR YIN AND YANG - - 142. POSITIVISM - 188. MONISM - - 254. TRANSCENDENTALISM - - - 345. PANTHEISTIC MYSTICISM - 41

III. ETHICS 471. CONFUCIANISM - - 49

(a) Jen, the Fundamental Virtue - 51(b) Eeverence and Self-Inspection - - 56(c) Sincerity- - 59(d) Mencius - . 64

2. ETHICS OF TAOISM - 71(a) The Wu Wei - . 71(b) Anarchism - . 79

3. HEDONISM . . 844. UTILITARIANISM - - - 925. CEREMONIALISM..... 101

IV. RELIGION - 112NOTES . 155INDEX - - - - - - 183


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A BRIEF HISTORY OF EARLYCHINESE PHILOSOPHY

INTRODUCTIONA TOLERABLY authentic history of Chinese civilizationdates back as early as three thousand years beforethe Christian era, when the Three Eulers 1 and theFive, Kings 2 began to govern well -settled communities along the Yellow River. The " Shu Ching,"3one of the oldest books extant in China, containsamong others some important documents issued byYao and Shun/ whose imperial reigns flourishedpresumably in the twenty-fourth century beforeChrist. Those documents furnish us with someinteresting religious material, shedding light on theearly Chinese conception of Nature, which, with onlyslight modifications, is still prevalent at the presentday. But the real awakening of philosophical inquiryin China must be said to be in the time when theChou dynasty (1122-255 B.C.) first began to showsymptoms of decline that is, in the seventh centurybefore Christ, though the Chinese intellect must have

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2 A BRIEF HISTORY OFbeen active for a long time prior to this, the resultsof which, however imperfect and fragmentary, foundtheir way in some of the " Yi Ching Appendices "and in Lao-tze s Tao Te Ching/ 5

Beginning with the seventh century B.C., a galaxyof philosophical and ethical thinkers,8 led by Lao-tzeand Confucius, continued most brilliantly to illumine,for some hundred years, the early stage of Chinesephilosophy. It was as though one walked in springtime, after the confinement of a long, monotonouswinter, into the field, where flowers of various huesand odours greet him on all sides. Thus, this epoch,covering about four hundred years, was one of themost glorious periods in the whole history of Chinesecivilization ; and because it was suddenly cut shortby the Ch in dynasty (221-206 B.C.), it is commonlyknown as the Ante-Ch in period. The Chinese mindmay have developed later a higher power of reasoning, and made a deeper study of consciousness ; butits range of intellectual activities was never surpassedin any other period. If, later on, it gained in precision, it lost sadly in freedom, which sometimesturned to sheer wantonness. It had many problemsto busy itself with at this awakening stage of nationalintellectual life. The universe was yet new to thethinking mind, which was able to find problems tograpple with wheresoever its attention was directed ;it was so plastic, and so creative. But after thisthere set in a time for induration, whereby the in-


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 3tellectual blood was doomed to run along old andstiffened veins.An unhappy end came quite abruptly to this

glorious Ante-Ch in period. When,, in the year221 B.C., the First Emperor (Shih Huang Ti) of theCh in dynasty succeeded in consolidating the smallkingdoms and dukedoms of feudal China for thefirst time into one vast empire, he took the mostdrastic measures ever conceived by an absolute monarch to suppress the spirit of liberty which was justabout to bloom. He would not tolerate a singlethought that did not agree with his. He would notcountenance scholars and thinkers who dared toassume an independent air and voice their opinions.He silenced all criticism by burying his critics alive,and put an end to the discord of beliefs by burningall the books and documents 7 that were not in sympathy with the new administration (213 B.C.). Theeffects of such radical measures were just what theEmperor desired. He suppressed all independenceof thought and reduced the spirit of the nation toa comatose condition, which lasted for a millennium. 8Daring these times, China produced not a singleoriginal thinker. The cyclone was so destructive,leaving desolation in its wake, that people did notventure to build any new structure of thought ; butwere constantly endeavouring to recover what theyhad lost. They made a diligent research among theliterary remains. Whatever discoveries they made


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4 A BEIEF HISTORY OFwere carefully studied, and commentaries were writtenby various hands. Those which could not be found,though their traditional existence was known, wereeven manufactured, and boldly appeared with the oldlabels on them. So, this period proved a fruitfulseason for literary forgery.Buddhism was introduced during this lethargic

period of Chinese thought (213 B.C.-A.D. 959). Inspite of the strong conservative spirit of the Celestials, the new doctrine did not meet with great opposition. Finding a similar vein of thought in theteaching of Lao-tze, the Buddhists utilized his terminology to the best advantage, and also coined a numberof new words to express ideas hitherto unknown tothe Chinese. A gradual and steady spread of Buddhism among the scholars paved the way for a renaissance under the Sung dynasty (A.D. 960-1279).The people, with their characteristic indifference, didnot observe the propagation of the foreign doctrine,but gradually recognized the superiority of the Hinduintellect, especially in metaphysics and methodology.This recognition of the merits of Buddhism was agreat impulse to the pedantic disciples of Confucius.Though the Confucians were not inclined in those

days to do anything more than merely edit andcomment upon the lately discovered classics, ChineseBuddhists busily occupied themselves with the elaboration of their own sacred books. They not onlyrendered many Sanskrit texts into their own language,


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EAKLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 5but also produced some original religio-philosophicalworks. Their inspiration, of course, primarily camefrom the Buddhist canons, but they assimilated themso perfectly that Chinese Buddhism can be said tostand on its own footing. Its philosophy was moreprofound than that of Confucius. Their world-conception penetrated more deeply into the nature ofthings. We generally understand by the history ofChinese philosophy that of Confucianism; for it isnothing more than that, except in the Ante-Ch inperiod, when other thoughts than those of Confuciusappeared in the foreground. But if we want tounderstand thoroughly the train of thought that wasprevalent during the renaissance, we cannot ignorethe significance of the development of Buddhismduring the hibernation period of Confucianism.The re-awakening of Chinese philosophy under the

Sung dynasty marked a clearly-defined period in itshistory.

9Speculation, which was refreshed after itslong slumber of a thousand years, now grappled with

the questions of the Sphinx more intelligently, if notmore boldly, than it did during the Ante-Ch in period.Buddhism stirred up the Chinese nerve to respond tothe new stimuli. It furnished the Chinese stomachwith more food to digest and assimilate into itssystem. But the Chinese did not swallow the newnourishment with their eyes closed. They intuitivelydiscarded what they thought was not profitable fortheir practical nature. They drew inspiration from


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6 A BEIEF HISTORY OFBuddhism in those problems only which Confucianismset up for their intellectual exercise. It may, therefore, properly be said that this period of Chineserenaissance did not bring out any new philosophicalproblems outside of the narrow path already beatenby the earlier Confucians. During the Ante-Ch inperiod, Confucianism was not yet firmly established,and there were many rival doctrines struggling forascendancy and recognition. The thinkers of thetime felt a strong aversion to being yoked to oneset of teachings. But the philosophers of the Sungdynasty never thought of deviating from the old rut.They became conscious of many new thoughts introduced from India, and endeavoured to utilize themonly so far as they were available for a fuller interpretation of the Confucian doctrines, which, like thewill of the Almighty, were to them irrevocable andinfallible. They never dreamt of repudiating or contradicting

them in any way. All their new acquisitions, from whatever source they might have come,were invariably made use of for the discovery ofsomething hidden in the old doctrines, and for afuller analysis of them. What was original withthem was the interpretation of the old system in anew light.Strictly speaking, the Chinese are not a speculativepeople like the Greeks or the Hindus. Their interestsalways centre in moral science, or rather in practicalethics. However subtle in their reasoning, and how-


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 7ever bold in their imagination, they never lose sightof the practical and moral aspect of things. Theyrefuse to be carried up to a heaven where pure ideasonly exist. They prefer to be tied down in earthlyrelations wherever they may go. They would deridethose star-gazers whose legs are fatally chained tothe earth; for to whatsoever soaring heights man sspeculation may climb, he is utterly unable to changehis destiny here below. This must always be kept inmind when we peruse the history of Chinese thought.The practical nature and conservatism of Confucianismput an eternal seal on it, forever forbidding it towander in a cometary orbit.The Sung dynasty is followed by the Yuan (1271-1363), which did not contribute anything worthspecial consideration to the history of Chinese philosophy. This short Mongolian dynasty left its pagesopened where it found them. Its successor, the Mingdynasty (1363-1663), however, produced one greatmoral and intellectual character in the person ofWang Yang-ming (1472-1529). He was a worthyheir to the thoughts that stimulated and rejuvenatedthe Chinese mind at the time of the Sung renaissance.Though he was not an independent thinker in thesense of being a non-Confucian, he was originalenough to find a new path to the confirmation andrealization of the old time-honoured doctrines. Afterthe passing of this luminary, the Chinese intellectualheavens were once more overcast with clouds, and


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A BRIEF HISTORY OFfrom his time until the present day nothing significantor deserving special mention has ever stirred Chineseserenity. Under the present revolutionary Government, only recently ushered in after the overthrow ofthe Manchurian dynasty, it is still a question, as faras its intellectual life is concerned, of how soon Chinawill recover from the dreamy inactivity induced bythe excessive use of the opium of conservatism.Some time, indeed, has elapsed since the introduction of Western culture and thought into theFar East, but it is only a handful of thinkers amonghundreds of millions of souls that have been awakenedfrom their time-worn, threadbare usages and traditionsand superstitions. However superficially changedtheir form of government, the masses are not yetquite fully aware of the significance of the intellectualmovement of the twentieth century; and this, to acertain extent, also applies to their neighbours. Butwhen the giant of the Orient is fully awakened, andmakes free and intelligent use of Western methodsof science, he is sure to achieve something quiteworthy of his history, and contribute somethingoriginal to the world treasure of thought ; for whathas hitherto kept him comparatively backward in themarch of civilization is not due to his intellectualawkwardness or to the lack of mental equipment,but simply to the clumsiness of method which he hasapplied in the investigation of nature and mind.Methodology is the key of knowledge. Let the


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 9Chinese entirely change their former attitude towardsmodern intellectual activities, and there will surelycome a time for the world to feel indebted to thegiant of the Orient for his valuable store of knowledge.The Ante-Ch in period yields the richest harvest of

original thought in the whole history of Chinesephilosophy. As the tide of civilization had thenadvanced far enough, and the general, social, andpolitical environment of the time was very favourable,the Chinese mind plunged itself unreservedly intoa bold speculation on life and the universe. It hadso far nothing in the past that would distract it fromfully expressing itself. It was ushered into a fieldwhose virgin soil had not yet been touched by humanhands. Natural selection had not yet set her stampon any definite conception of life that seemed universally acceptable to the national, moral, and intellectual idiosyncrasy. The competition for supremacywas free and keen, and time had not yet announcedthe survival of the fittest. Confucianism was foundstill struggling for its existence ; Taoism was not yetrecognized as a distinct system ; the so-called I-twan,jJ. $$, that is the heterodox teachings, were boldlystanding on a level with Chang-tao, ] )H, theorthodox. Enjoying the utmost freedom of speech,and unhampered by the tyranny of tradition andlearning, every man who had intelligence enough tobe original ventured his own opinion, and could finda hearing. If the facilities of printing and distribu-


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10 A BEIBF HISTOEY OFtion had been such as they are to-day, we can imaginewhat a spectacular sight the Chinese world of thoughtwould have presented in this Ante-Ch in period.The Chinese mind seems to have exhausted itself inthis period, for through the entire course of its historyno further original thoughts appeared than wereexpressed at this time either explicitly or by implication. Some of the thoughts that were then utteredaudibly enough had even to suffer the sad fate ofbeing almost entirely ignored by later philosophers.As soon as the Confucian teachings gained a stronghold on the people,10 no doctrines were encouragedto develop that did not help to elucidate Confucius ina better light or in a more popular form. The historyof Chinese thought after the Ch/in closely resemblesin this respect that of European medieval philosophy,only the former assumed a milder form; for Confucianism did not favour superstition, fanaticism, andirrational vagaries such as we meet with in the MiddleAges. It was practical to a fault, moralizing andpositivistic, and refused to be thrown into the abysmaldepths of metaphysics. The train of thought foundin Taoism, thus choked and obstructed, could notmake any further development even after its contactwith Buddhism, which represented the type of Hinduspeculation in China. Chwang-tze was practically theclimax of the Lao-tzean philosophy, with no system,with no method, but pregnant with mystic suggestions and vague assumptions. Therefore, we assert


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 11that the Chinese philosophy of the Ante-Ch in periodwas richer in thought, broader in scope, and bolder inspeculation than that in any succeeding age.One thing at least that prevented the Chinese from

making headway in their philosophy is their use ofideographic characters. Not only are the charactersthemselves intractable and clumsy, but their grammatical construction is extremely loose. The verbsare not subject to conjugation, the nouns are indeclinable, no tense-relations are grammatically expressible.Now, language is the tool of reason, and at the sametime it is the key to the understanding. When wecannot wield the tool as we will, the material on whichwe work fails to produce the effect we desire ; and thereader is at a loss to understand the meaning whichwas intended by the author. How could thinkers ofthe first magnitude express themselves satisfactorilyin such a language as Chinese ? Terseness, brevity,strength, and classical purity are desirable in certainforms of literature, and for this purpose the Chineselanguage may be eminently adapted. But whilelogical accuracy and literal precision are the firstrequisites, those rhetorical advantages mean verylittle. More than that, they are actually an inconvenience, and even a hindrance, to philosophicalwriting. 11

Another thing that is sadly lacking in the Chinesemind is logic. This fact shows itself in the Ante-Chinphilosophy, and throughout in the succeeding periods.


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12 EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHYIn India as well as in Greece, when intellectual culturereached a similar height as that of the Ante-Ch inperiod in China, the Greeks had their logic and theHindus their hetuvidya (science of cause). They werevery strict in reasoning, and systematic in drawingconclusions. Their minds seem to have been made ofmuch finer fibre than the Chinese. The latter werefilled with common sense and practical working knowledge. They did not want to waste their mentalenergy on things which have apparently no practicaland immediate bearings on their everyday life. Theydid not necessarily aim at distinctness of thought andexactitude of expression, for in our practical andconcrete world there is nothing that can claim absolute exactness. As long as we are moving on earth,the Chinese might have unconsciously reasoned, therewas no need for them to get entangled in the meshesof verbal subtlety and abstract speculation. Therefore, when their philosophy did not vanish in themist of vague mysticism, as in the case of Taoism, ittenaciously clung to the agnosticism of everyday experience, in which there was no absolute being, nomiraculous revelation, no eternal individual continuityafter death.Now, let us see what were the principal thoughtsthat were being elaborated by the Chinese mind

during the Ante-Ch in period of Chinese philosophy.They will be broadly treated under " Philosophy,""

Ethics," and " Religion."


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PHILOSOPHYTHE philosophy of the Chinese has always beenpractical and most intimately associated with humanaffairs. No ontological speculation, no cosmogonicalhypothesis, no abstract ethical theory, seemed worthyof their serious contemplation, unless it had a directbearing upon practical morality. They did, indeed,speculate in order to reach the ultimate ground ofexistence ; but, as they conceived it, it did not coverso wide a realm as we commonly understand it; forto them it meant not the universe generally, with allits innumerable relations, but only a particular portionof it that is, human affairs and these only so far asthey were concerned with this present mundane life,political and social. Thus, we do not have in Chinaso much of pure philosophy as of moral sayings. TheChinese must be said to have strictly observed theinjunction : " Know then thyself, presume not God toscan; the proper study of mankind is man." Andthis fact must be borne in mind when we investigatethe history of Chinese philosophy. Though here Ihave devoted a special chapter to philosophy, it mustbe understood that the subject was treated by the

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14 A BRIEF HISTORY OFChinese somewhat as a side issue, and not as the mainbusiness of their intellectual employment.

DUALISM, OR THE YIN AND YANG.Two antagonistic currents of thought manifested

themselves at an early date in the history of Chinesephilosophy, and run throughout its entire course.One is represented by the " Yi Ching " and Confucius(551-479 B.C.) ; 12 the other by Lao-tze. 13 The formeradvocated a dualism, and showed agnostic, positiv-istic, and practical tendencies; while the latter wasmonistic, mystical, and transcendental.

Dualism was the first speculative philosophy everconstructed by Chinese thinkers. It is set forth inone of the oldest writings called " Yi Ching " (Bookof Changes) . The book is, however, the most unintelligible, most enigmatical, document ever found inChinese literature. Many conflicting theories havebeen advanced as to its real value and meaning, andwe have not yet come to any definite settlement. Asfar as I can judge, its true significance had been losteven as early as the beginning of the Chou dynasty.Not being able to determine its exact nature, KingWen (1231-1135 B.C.) and Lord Chou (who diedJ 105 B.C.) took it for a sort of general treatise onnatural phenomena and human affairs, which mightalso be consulted as a book of divination, and uponthis surmise they wrote some commentary noteswhich imply suggestions of practical wisdom and


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 15moral instructions. Some four hundred years laterConfucius again struggled hard to arrive at a definiteand true estimate of the book. He seems to havebeen not wholly satisfied with the practical interpretation of it by Wen and Chou. He wished tofind a speculative philosophical foundation in theapparently confusing and enigmatic passages of the" Yi Ching." He is said to have expressed his earnestdesire to have his life prolonged several years so thathe could devote them to the study of this mysteriousliterature. The "Appendices/ l4 popularly ascribedto Confucius, contain some philosophical reflections,and on that account some later exegetists declarethat the " Yi Ching " was primarily a philosophicaltreatise, and later transformed into a book of divination. Whatever the true nature of the book, it isfrom it that early Chinese thinkers derived theirdualistic conception of the world.Some lexicographers think that the character yiJJ is made of " sun " 16 U and " moon " ) j . Whether

this be the origin of the character or not, the interpretation is very ingenious, for yi means change inany form the change from daylight to moonlight,the change from blooming springtime to harvesting autumn, or the change from fortune to ill-luck,and vice versa. Change is a predominant characteristic of all activities ; and this is caused by the interplay of the male (yang) and the female (yin) principlesin the universe. Owing to this interaction of these


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16 A BRIEF HISTORY OFopposite forces, which in the " Yi Ching " proper arecalled chien "$ and Itun ify, and respectively represented by a whole line and a divided line, beings nowcome into existence, and now go out of it, and a constant transformation in the universe takes place.

So it is said in the " Appendix " III : 16 " Heaven ishigh, earth is low ; and the relation between the strongand the weak is determined. The low and the highare arranged in order ; and the relation between thenoble and the lowly is settled. Movement and restfollow their regular course ; and the relation betweenthe rigid and the tender is denned.

" Things are set together according to their classes;beings are divided according to their groups; andthere appear good and evil. In the heavens there aredifferent bodies formed ; and there take place changesand transformations.

" Therefore, the rigid and tender come in contact ;the eight symbols interact. To stimulate, we havethunder and lightning ; to moisten, we have wind andrain. The sun and moon revolve and travel, whichgive rise to cold and warmth.

" The strong principle makes the male, and theweak principle makes the female. By the strong thegreat beginning is known, and the weak brings beingsinto completion. The strong principle becomes intelligible through changes; the weak principle becomesefficient through selection. The changing is easy tounderstand ; selection is easy to follow. As it is easy


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 17to understand, there grows familiarity; as it is easyto follow, efficiency is gained. That which is familiarwill last ; that which is efficient will be great. Lasting is the virtue of a wise man, great is the accomplishment of a wise man. Through change andselection is obtained the reason of the universe. Whenthe reason of the universe is obtained, the perfectabides in its midst."

Again, Confucius says in the "Appendix" IV: 17" The strong and the weak are the gates of change.The strong is the male gender, and the weak is thefemale gender. When the male and the female areunited in their virtues, the rigid and the tender areformulated, in which are embodied all the phenomenaof heaven and earth, and through which are circulatedthe powers of the spirits bright."To make another quotation in which the gist of the

dualistic conception of the " Yi Ching " is more concisely stated (" Appendix" VI) : 18 "In olden timeswhen the wise men made the Yi, they wanted it to bein accord with the nature and destiny of things, whichis reason. Therefore, they established the heavenlyway in Yin and Yang; they established the human wayin humaneness and righteousness; they establishedthe earthly way in tenderness and rigidness. Thus,each of the three powers of nature was made to becontrolled by a set of two principles."Whatever we may call them, the strong and the

weak, or the rigid and the tender, or the male and2


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18 A BRIEF HISTORY OFthe female, or heaven and earth, or Yang and Yin, orOhien and K un, there are, according to the "YiChing," two independent principles, and their interplay, governed by certain fixed laws, constitutes theuniverse. And these fixed laws are nothing else thanthe sixty-four trigrams (kua h), as defined and explained, however enigmatically, in the "Yi Ching"proper. The practical Chinese mind, however, didnot see this numerical conception of the world in itsabstract philosophical signification as Pythagoras did,but confined it to the vicissitudes of human affairs.Even when Confucius attempted to see a naturalphilosophical basis in the composition of the " YiChing," he could not ignore its ethical bearings so asto plunge himself deeply into bold speculations. Themost eminent trait of the Chinese mind is to moralizeon every imaginable subject. They could not butbetray this tendency, even with the apparently nonsensical whole and divided strokes of the eight trigrams. 19

POSITIVISM.What is most typical of Chinese thought, together

with the dualistic conception of nature, is its strongaversion to metaphysics. Avowed assertions of thissentiment have been repeatedly made by Confuciusand his school, who later on proved to be the representative exponent of the Chinese national mind.They persistently refused to go beyond our everydayexperiences. Their prosaic intellect always dwelt on


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 19things human and mundane. The discovery of twocontrasting principles in nature satisfied their curiosity,speculatively considered ; they did not venture intoa realm beyond the interaction in this visible universeof the Yin and Yang, and perhaps the mysteriousworking of the five Forces (king %f). And it wasthrough this interaction and mysterious working thatsome definite laws have come to be established in thephysical world as well as in the moral; and theselaws are curiously set forth in the "Book of Changes."Therefore, what we have to do here on earth is toput oursevles in harmony with these laws. Whenthis is done, our life-programme as a human beingis complete. Why should we go beyond theseobservable and intelligible laws of nature andmorality, only to find out something transcendentaland therefore necessarily having no practical bearingon our earthly life ? Are we not sufficient untoourselves without having our imagination soar sohigh ? This is the most characteristic attitude ofConfucius., Says Confucius : " How could we know death whenlife is not yet understood ?" (" Analects/ Book XI).Again : " Do not trouble yourselves with thingssupernatural, physical prowess, monstrosities, andspiritual beings " (Book VII) . Again : " How couldwe serve spiritual beings while we do not know howto serve men ?" (Book XI). In the " Doctrine of theMean }> (Chuny Yuny), however, Confucius expresses


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20 A BRIEF HISTORY OFhimself much more plainly concerning spiritual beings,(Chapter XVI) : " How glorious are the virtues ofspiritual beings ! Our eyes cannot perceive them,our ears cannot hear them, yet they embody themselves in all things, which cannot exist withoutthem. Yet, the spirits make all the people in theworld regulate themselves, cleanse themselves, andclad in the ceremonious dress, attend to the sacrificialceremony. How full and pervading they are ! Theyseem, to be above us, they seem to be with us. Itis said in the Book of the Odes that the comingof the spirits is beyond human calculation, and muchmore beyond a feeling of aversion. The reason whythe invisible are so manifest is that sincerity can neverbe concealed."

According to these passages, the Confucian doctrineis quite apparent. There might be something on theother side of this life. All these natural phenomenaand moral doings might have something underneaththem, from which they gain their evidently inexplicable energy. Indeed, we feel the existence of something invisible and mysterious ; we are compelled toacknowledge this fact at the time of the sacrificialceremony. But we do not know its exact nature andsignification, which are too deep or too hidden fromthe human understanding to unravel. As far as itsapparent, cognizable laws and manifestations areconcerned, they are, however enigmatically, statedin the " Book of Changes," and all that we mortals


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 21have to do in this world is to understand these know-able phenomena and leave alone the unknowable.This line of reasoning seems to have appealed moststrongly to the Confucian mind.

Indeed, the Confucians and other philosophers speakof T ien ;, or Heaven or Heavenly Destiny (t ienming ^ (ft), or the Great Ultimate (tai chi -fc fe), butthey never seem to have attempted any furtherinvestigation of the nature of this undefined being orprinciple called T ien.*****

It is in the " Yi Ching " that we can trace, thoughvery sporadically, an idealistic, monistic, and mysticaltendency, which finally developed into the speculativephilosophy of the Sung dynasty, but which wasalmost completely neglected by the early advocatesof the Confucian school. I shall quote here somepassages from the " Yi Ching " to illustrate my point.Before quoting, however, it will be opportune toremark here that the term yi sometimes has theforce and significance of an abstract principle itselfrather than the actual phenomenon of mere transformation or interaction, and again that it sometimesdesignates a system of philosophy which most truthfully explains the reason for all changes in thisdualistic world.

" The Yi is not conscious, nor does it labour ; it isquiet, and does not stir. It feels, and then communeswith the wherefore of the universe. If it were not


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22 A BRIEF HISTORY OFthe most spiritual thing in the universe, how could itbehave in this wise ?

" It is through the Yi that holy men fathom thedepths of being and explore the reason of motion(chi ^). Deep it is, and therefore it is able to comprehend the will of the universe. It is the reason ofmotion, and therefore it is able to accomplish thework of the universe. It is spiritual, and therefore itquickens without being speedy, it arrives withoutwalking." 20

Further, we read : " Therefore, the Yi has the greatorigin (t ai chi), which creates the two regulators ; andthe two regulators create the four symbols (hsiang) ;and the four symbols create the eight trigrams (kua).The eight trigrams determine the good and evil ; andthe good and evil create the great work."

In the first of the so-called " Appendices " (HsiTz u) 20& we have :

" The Yi is in accord with Heaven and Earth, andtherefore it pervades and is interwoven in the courseof Heaven and Earth. Look upwards, and it isobservable in the heavenly phenomena ; look downwards, and it is recognizable in the earthly design.And it is for this reason that the Yi manifests thewherefore of darkness and brightness. As it tracesthings to their beginning and follows them to theirend, it makes known the meaning of death andbirth. Things are made of subtle substance (chingch i fjlj U), and changes occur on account of the


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EAKLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 23wandering spirits (yu hun $ j$i). Therefore, the Yiknows the characters and conditions of the spiritualbeings (kuei shan fy #).

" The Yi seems to be Heaven and Earth themselves,and it therefore never deviates. Its wisdom penetrates the ten thousand things. Its way delivers theworld, and it therefore never errs. It rejoices inheavenly ordination, and knows its own destiny ;therefore it never grieves. It rests in its own abode,and its loving kindness is sincere, and therefore it iscapable of love. It moulds and envelops all the transformations in Heaven and Earth ; and it never errs.It thoroughly brings all the ten thousand things intocompletion, and there is nothing wanting in them.Its wisdom passes through the course of day andnight. Therefore, the spirits have no quarters, andthe Yi is free from materiality."

Finally, Yi seems to be used in the sense ofGesetzmassigkeit. For instance:

" When the male(ch ieri) and the female (k un) are arranged in order,the Yi is established between them. When the maleand the female are destroyed, there is no way ofrecognizing the Yi. When the Yi is no more recognizable, the male and the female may be consideredto have altogether ceased to exist."

All these are interesting thoughts, and if Confuciuswas the real author of these " Appendices" to the" Yi Ching," from which these quotations are taken,they will prove that Confucius was not, after all,


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24 A BRIEF HISTORY OFmerely a moral teacher, but capable of delving deepinto the mysteries of life and existence ; and we cansay that what made the latter-day Confucianism suchas it is, is due more or less to the emphasizing by itsfollowers of certain practical features of the Confuciandoctrine at the expense of its more speculative side.If the master were followed more faithfully, and histeachings were developed in all their diverse features,there might have been earlier attempts at a reconciliation between Lao-tzeanism and Confucianism.*****

Mencius,21 who was the most brilliant and mostmilitant of all the Confucians of the Ante-Ch in period,and through whom Confucianism can be said to havebeen finally and definitely established in such form aswe understand it to-day, speaks of the Hao jan chich i & f ^ ^ as filling the universe (Book III).This Ch i can be freely translated " universal energy/or " impulse that awakens, stimulates, and acceleratesactivity"; it is a kind of psychical agency whichanimates life on this earth ; it is the nervous systemof the macrocosm. But Mencius did not use the termin such a broad sense ; he limited its sphere and valueof activity to our moral life. It is more definite,more psychical, and therefore nearer to humanity thanthe Confucian conception of T ien or T ien-ming,which seems to be a vestige, though considerablyrefined, of natural religion as professed in the " ShuChing," or " Shih Ching." None the less Mencius


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 25Ch i was too practical, too ethical, to be elevated to thedignity of a universal principle of existence. He didnot apparently take any interest in the metaphysicalside of the Yi system. He developed only the ethicsof his great predecessor, though not in its entiretyand completeness. He was truly the representativeof the Confucian positivism.

MONISM.There were not lacking, however, in the Ante-Ch in

period certain tendencies that counterbalanced theultra-practical, positivistic train of thought as represented in Confucianism. Though these tendenciesdid not attain a full manifestation at any time in thehistory of Chinese thought, they showed a strongfront at this incipient stage to their antagonisticsystems. It was quite unfortunate that they werehampered in their development, and had from timeto time to lose sight of their essential qualities.Probably this was in the nature of their system. Theyowe their origin mainly to the teachings of the " TaoTeh Ching/ 22 and may be characterized as monistic,mystic, transcendental, and sometimes pantheistic.Lao-tze, however, was not the first and sole expounderof these thoughts. He doubtless had many predecessors whose words and lives are scatteringlyrecorded by Confucius, Mencius, Chwang-tze, Lieh-tze, and others, including Lao-tze himself. 23 Whatwas most significant in the author of the " Tao Teh


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26 A BRIEF HISTORY OFChing" was that lie gave to these conceptions aliterary form through which we are able to trace thehistory of the Chinese monistic movement to itssources.When we pass from Confucius to Lao-tze, we ex

perience almost complete change of scenery. Confucius, in whom the Chinese mind is most typicallymirrored, rarely deviates from the plain, normal,prosaic, and practical path of human life, and hiseyes are steadily kept upon our earthly moral relations. Lao-tze occasionally betrays his nationaltraits, but he does not hesitate to climb the dizzyheights of speculation

and imagination. The firstpassage of the " Tao Teh Ching " shows how differenthis mode of thought is from that of the Confucianschool :

" The reason 24 (tao j||) that can be reasoned is notthe eternal reason. The name that can be named isnot the eternal name. The unnameable is the beginning of heaven and earth. The nameable is the motherof the ten thousand things. Therefore, in eternal non-being I wish to see the spirituality of things ; and ineternal being I wish to see the limitation of things.These two things are the same in source, but different inname. Their sameness is called a mystery. Indeed,it is the mystery of mysteries. It is the door of allspirituality."

According to Lao-tze, there is only one thing which,though indefinable and beyond the comprehension of


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 27the human understanding, is the fountain-head of allbeings, and the norm of all actions. Lao-tze callsthis Tao. But the Tao is not only the formativeprinciple of the universe; it also seems to be primordial matter. For he says in Chapter XXV of the"TaoTehChing": 26

"There is one thing, chaotic in its composition,which was born prior to heaven or earth. How noiseless ! How formless! Standing in its solitude, itdoes not change. Universal in its activity, it doesnot relax ; and thereby it is capable of becoming themother of the world ."Again in Chapter XIV :

" We look at it, but cannotsee it; it is colourless. We listen to it, but cannothear it; it is called soundless. We grasp it, butcannot hold it; it is called bodiless. The limits ofthese three we cannot reach. Therefore, they aremerged into one. Its top is not bright, its bottom isnot murky ; its eternity is indefinable ; it again returnsinto nothingness. This I call the shapeless shape, theimageless form; this I call the obscure and vague.We proceed to meet it, but cannot see its beginning ;we follow after it, but cannot see its end."

In what Lao-tze again seems to conceive his Tao,at once the formative principle of the universe andthe primordial matter from which develops this phenomenal world.

" The nature of the Tao, how obscure, how vague !How vaguely obscure ! and yet in its midst there is


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28 A BRIEF HISTORY OFan image. How obscurely vague ! and yet in itsmidst there is a character. How unfathomable, howindefinite ! yet in its midst there is a reality, and thereality is truly pure; in it there is truthfulness.From of old till now, its name never departs, andthereby it reviews the beginning of all things"(Chapter XXI).The Tao, as the reason of the universe and as the

principle of all activity, is something unnameable, andtranscends the grasp of the intellect. The Tao, asprimordial matter from which this world of particularshas been evolved, is a potentiality; it has a formwhich is formless ; it has a shape which is shapeless ;it is enveloped in obscurity and utter indeterminate-ness. According to what we learn from the " TaoTeh Ching," Lao-tze seems to have comprehendedtwo apparently distinct notions in the conception ofTao. He was evidently not conscious of this confusion. The physical conception, as we might callit, developed later into the evolution-idea of the T*aiChi 26 by the early philosophers of the Sung dynasty,who endeavoured to reconcile the Yi philosophy withthe Taoist cosmogony. The metaphysical side ofLao-tze s Tao conception not only was transformed byhis early followers into pantheism and mysticism ; italso served as an electric spark, as it were, to theexplosion of the famous controversy of the Sungphilosophers concerning Essence (hsing $) andReason (li ?). However this be, Lao-tze was the


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 29first monist in Chinese philosophy, as the " Yi Ching "was the first document that expounded dualism.

Lao-tze s philosophical successors in the Ante-Ch inperiod, whose literary works have been fortunatelypreserved down to the present day, are Lieh-tze,27Chwang-tze, and perhaps Kwan-yin-tze. They alldeveloped the monistic, mystical, idealistic thoughtsbroadly propounded in the " Tao Teh Ching." Beingushered into the time when the first speculativeactivity of the Chinese mind had attained to its fullvigour, the Taoist philosophers displayed a depth ofintellectual power which has never been surpassed bylater thinkers in

brilliancyand freshness.

What most distinguishes Lieh-tze 28 in the galaxyof Taoists is his cosmogony. According to him, thisnameable world of phenomena evolved from an un-nameable absolute being. This being is called Tao,or Spirit of Valley (ku shen Q jfi$), or the Mysterious Mother (hsuan p in,

~4b)>

all these termsbeing used by his predecessor, Lao-tze. 29 The evolution did not take place through the direction of apersonal will, that has a definite, conscious plan ofits own in the creation or evolution of a universe.Lieh-tze says that the unnameable is the nameable, andthe unknowable is the knowable ; therefore, he didnot see the need of creating a being or power thatstands independent of this nameable and knowableworld. It was in the very nature of the unnameablethat it should evolve a world of names and particulars.


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30 A BRIEF HISTORY OFIt could not do otherwise. Its inherent nature necessitated it to unfold itself in the realm of the Yin andYang.To speak more definitely in the author s own

words : " There was in the beginning Chaos (hun tunor hun lun), an unorganized mass. It was a mingledpotentiality of Form (hsing), Pneuma (ch i), and Substance (chih). A Great Change (tai yi) took place init, and there was a Great Starting (tai chi), which isthe beginning of Form. The Great Starting evolveda Great Beginning (tai shih), which is the inceptionof Pneuma. The Great Beginning was followed bythe Great Blank (tai su], which is the first formationof Substance. Substance, Pneuma, and Form beingall evolved out of the primordial chaotic mass, thismaterial world as it lies before us came into existence " (Chapter I) .In these statements Lieh-tze appears to have

understood by the so-called Chaos (hun lun) onlya material potentiality. But, as we proceed, wenotice that he did not ignore the reason by which theChaos was at all possible to evolve. The reason isthe Tao, or, as he calls it, the Solitary Indeterminate(I tuh), or the Going-and-Coming (wangfuh), or Non-activity (wu wei). The Solitary Indeterminate is thatwhich creates and is not created, that which transforms and is not transformed. As it is not created,it is able to create everlastingly ; as it is not transformed, it is able to transform eternally. The Going-


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EAELY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 31and-Coming neither goes nor comes, for it is thatwhich causes things to come and go. Those thatcome are doomed to go, and those that go are sureto come; but the Coming-and-G-oing itself remainsfor ever, and its limitations can never be known.

" What comes out of birth is death, but what createslife has no end. What makes a concrete object issubstance, but what constitutes the reason of a concrete object has never come to exist. What makes asound perceptible is the sense of hearing, but whatconstitutes the reason of sound has never manifesteditself. What makes a colour perceptible is its visibility,

but what constitutes the reason of colour hasnever been betrayed. What makes a taste tastableis the sense of taste, but what constitutes the reasonof taste has never been tasted. For all this is thefunction of non-activity (wu wei) that is, reason "(Chapter I).

Will there be no end to this constant coming andgoing of things ? Is the world running in an eternalcycle ? Lieh-tze seems to think so, for he says : " Thatwhich has life returns to that which is lifeless ; thatwhich has form returns to that which is formless.That which is lifeless does not eternally remain lifeless ; that which is formless does not eternally remainformless. Things exist because they cannot be otherwise ; things come to an end because they cannot dootherwise, just as those which are born becausethey cannot be unborn. They who aspire after an


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32 A BRIEF HISTORY OFeternal life, or they who want to limit their life, areignoring the law of necessity. The soul is heavenlyand the bones are earthly. That which belongs tothe heavens is clear, and dispenses itself ; that whichbelongs to the earth is turbid, and agglomeratesitself. The soul is separated from the body andreturns (kwei, $) to its own essence. It is, therefore, called spirit (kwei, jijjj. Spirit is returning

that is, it returns to its real abode " (Chapter I) .Lieh-tze thus believes that the cycle of birth and

death is an irrevocable ordeal of nature. This life ismerely a temporary abode, and not the true one.Life means lodging, or sojourning, or tenanting, anddeath means coming back to its true abode. Lifecannot necessarily be said to be better than death, ordeath than life. Life and death, existence and non-existence, creation and annihilation, are the inherentlaw of nature, and the world must be said to berevolving

on an eternal wheel. The wise man remainsserene and unconcerned in the midst of this revolution ; he lives as if not living. This is the characteristic attitude of all the Taoist philosophers; theybegin with a monistic philosophy, and end with anethical attitude of aloofness.

The following passage from Lieh-tze will illustratewhat a transcendental attitude is assumed by thephilosopher toward life and the universe, which is thepsychological outcome of a philosophy of absoluteidentity :


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 33"A. man in the state of Ch i was so grieved over

the possible disintegration of heaven-and-earth, andthe consequent destruction of his own existence, thathe could neither sleep nor eat. A friend came tohim and consolingly explained to him : Heaven-and-earth is no more than an accumulated pneuma, andthe sun, moon, stars, and constellations are pureluminary bodies in this accumulation of pneuma.Even when they may fall on the ground, they cannotstrike anything. The earth is an accumulation ofmasses filling its four empty quarters. Treading onit will not cause it to sink/ With this both weresatisfied.

" Chang-tu-tze heard of it, and said : The cloudsand mists, the winds and rains are accumulatedpneuma in the heavens; and the mountains andplains, the rivers and seas are accumulated formson earth; and who can say that they will neverdisintegrate? Heaven- and-earth is merely a smallatom in space, though the hugest among all concreteobjects. It goes without saying that we cannot haveits measurements and know its nature. He who grievesover its possible disintegration must be consideredtruly great, and he who thinks of it as indestructibleis not

quite right.Heaven-and-earth must suffer a

disintegration. There must surely be the time whenit falls to pieces. And could we be free from apprehension when it actually begins to fall ?

"When this was communicated to Lieh-tze, he3


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34 A BEIEF HISTORY OFlaughed,, saying : It is as great a mistake to assertthat heaven-and-earth is falling to pieces as to denyit. Whether it falls to pieces or not, we have nomeans to tell; be it this or that, it is all the same.Therefore, life does not know of death, nor does deathknow of life. Coming does not know of going, nordoes going know of coming. To go to pieces or notto go to pieces this does not at all concern me(Chapter I).

TEANSCENDENTALISM.Chwang-tze,30 who appeared a little later on the

stage of philosophical speculation, was the mostbrilliant Taoist China has ever produced. Lieh-tzemight have been deeper in one sense than hissuccessor, but he was not such a brilliant genius asthe latter. The main philosophical problems handledby Chwang-tze were those of Lao-tze, but in manypoints he extended and detailed what was merelyvaguely suggested by his predecessors. He maintained, for instance, with Lao-tze that the worldstarted from the Nameless, but Chwang-tze s Nameless was more absolute and transcendental, if wecould use the expression, than that of Lao-tze; forChwang-tze declares that when we say there wasnon-existence (wu $) before existence, this non-existence somewhat suggests the sense of relativityand conditionality, but in truth there could not beany such existence as non-existence; and, therefore,


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BAELY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 35it is better to say that there was in the beginning a" non-existing non-existence " (wu-wu) that is, notconditional non-existence, but absolute non-existence(Chwang-tze, "The Inner," Book II). Chwang-tzein this wise delighted himself with subtle dianoeticargument.The fundamental conception of Lao-tze s doctrine

was monistic and idealistic when contrasted with theYi philosophy, and showed a certain contempt for therelative phenomenal world where pluralism prevails ;but he did not altogether fly away from the latter,he was content to remain there as a quiet, inactive,and harmless fellow, "covering his brightness withthe earthly dust." When we come to Chwang-tze,however, the world of relativity was felt like a bigpen ; he left it behind him in his ascent to the realmof the Infinite, and there he wished to sleep an absolutely quiescent dreamless sleep. This was his ideal.He was, therefore, more radical than Lao-tze in histranscendental idealism.At the time of Chwang-tze, however, there was

such a confused and contradictory philosophical controversy that it awakened him from the transcendentalenjoyment of his self-forgetting trance. Chwang-tzewas convinced of the ultimate unreality of this phenomenal world, in which he did not know whetheror not his was the dream-existence of the butterfly. 31He argued that as long as things in this world are conditional and limit one another, there is no avoidance


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36 A BRIEF HISTORY OFof controversy and contradiction. Each individualmind has its own idiosyncrasy. One and the sametruth is reflected therein, perhaps, but each respondsdifferently according to its inner necessity. Supposea gale sweeps over a mountain forest : the treesresound with their varied notes according to all thepossible differences of the cavities which may befound in them. Some sound like fretted water, somelike the arrow s whiz, some like the stern commandof a military officer, some like the gruff roar of a lion,and so on ad infinitum (" The Inner," Book II) . Andwhat need would there be to pass a judgment onthese multitudinous notes, and declare that some andnot others are correct representations of the truth ?

Chwang-tze, therefore, says that no good can comeout of engaging in a controversy of this nature. Aslong as there is a relative and conditional existence,there must be good and evil, affirmation and negation,coming and going. It is the height of foolishness toargue that as I am walking one way every man mustand ought to walk the same way. Has not everybody,the will and right to go his own way ? As Ishould not be compelled by others to deny my ownnature, they have the same privilege to follow theirown inclinations. What is good to me is not necessarily so to others, and vice versa. The stork haslong legs, but it would surely resent any human interference with their length ; the duck, on the otherhand, has short logs, but would not be thankful for


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 37our artificial improvement on their stubbiness. HsiShih was a beautiful woman, but when her featureswere reflected in the water the fish would have beenfrightened away. There was once a strange sea-birdvisiting the garden of the Duke of Lu. He waspleased with it, and had it brought to his court, wherehe fed it with all the delicacies his culinary department could furnish, and entertained it with the mostbeautiful music by his court players. But the birdwas sad, it neither drank nor ate, and after three daysit died. Now, exclaims Chwang-tze, "Why did notthe fool feed the bird with things it naturally feedson, instead of those horrible human concoctions ?"Therefore, the philosopher insists in giving everyonehis innate freedom and the right to think and act as hefeels ; and thereby he wishes to reach the point whereall controversies may eternally be set at rest; forevery dissension is the outcome of human meddlingwith the heavenly course of things.But how can we find out what is the real intrinsic

nature of each individual existence ? Chwang-tzeseems to think that the Tao is present in every being,and that the reason why we are in the wrong habitof confusing what is right with what is not right, isbecause we do not let the Tao work its own way, and,therefore, if we rid ourselves of all the subjective prejudices that we may possess and freely follow thecourse of the Tao, every being would enjoy his owninherent virtue, and there would be no controversies


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38 A BRIEF HISTORY OFand altercations, but our life would be blessed withthe transcendental bliss of the Infinite Tao. It isthus simple enough, believes Chwang-tze, to find thereal nature of things. Befree yourself from subjectiveignorance and individual peculiarities, find the universal Tao in your own being, and you will be able tofind it in others, too, because the Tao cannot be onein one thing and another in another. The Tao mustbe the same in every existence, because " I " and the" ten thousand things " grow from the selfsame source,and in this oneness of things we can bury all ouropinions and contradictions. He says : " Let us makeour appeal to the infiniteness of the Tao and take upour position there." We observe here the subjectivetendency of Taoism, which distinguishes itself sosignificantly from its rival doctrine, Confucianism.Taoism is mysticism.

What, then, is the Tao ? Can we know of its naturemore definitely ? Let Chwang-tze tell us what hethinks of it. " This is the Tao : there is in it sen-tiency and constancy, but it does nothing and has nobodily form. It may be handed down by the teacher,but may not be received by the scholar. It may beapprehended by the mind, it cannot be perceived bythe senses. It has its root and ground in itself.Before there were heaven and earth, from of old itwas securely existing. From it came the mysteriousexistence of God (ti ^).32 It produced heaven, itproduced earth. It was before the Tai Chi (Great


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 39Ultimate), and yet could not be considered deep. Itwas produced before heaven and earth, and yet couldnot be considered to have existed long. It was olderthan the highest authority, and yet could not be considered old" (Part I, Section YI).How can this Tao be known and expressed by us ?Is our intellectual faculty able to grasp the nature ofTao ? Can we analyze it logically and bring it out toour rational plane ? Chwang-tze is a mystic, as everyTaoist is, and thinks the Tao is beyond all humanintellection. When you want to express it and communicate it to another, it is lost. The mind seems tocomprehend it, but when it tries to point it out orexpose it before others view, it hides itself within thethreshold of consciousness.

" Chih (intellect) went north, and was enjoyinghimself by walking along the stream of Hsuen (theMysterious), and climbing the Hill of Yin Pin (the Concealed), when he happened to meet Wu Wei Wei (Non-doing-speaking) . Said Chih to Wei, I have somethingto ask you about, sir. What have I to think and reflectin order to know the Tao ? Where have I to abide,and what to wear, in order to rest with the Tao ?What have I to rely upon, and where to go, in orderto obtain the Tao T Chih asked Wei three times, andWei made no response. Wei was not averse toanswering, but did not know how to answer.

"Having no answer, Chih returned south of theBiver Peh (White) and proceeded to the Mount of


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40 A BRIEF HISTORY OFKu Ch ueh (Solitary End), where lie saw Chu K uan(Crazy-Crooked). He proposed the same questions,and Ch u said, Ah, I know it, and will tell you whatit is. But while on the point of speaking, I haveforgotten what I was about to speak/

" Having no satisfaction, Chih returned to theTi Kung (Imperial Mansion), and seeing Huang Ti(the Yellow Emperor), proposed the same questions.Said the Emperor : Think not, nor reflect, and youwill know the Tao ; abide nowhere, put nothing on,and you will rest with the Tao. Have nothing to relyon, nor go anywhere, and you will obtain the Tao/

t{ Chih asked : You and I know it, while the othertwo know it not ; who is right now V Said the Emperor : fWu Wei Wei is quite right, Ch u K uan isapproaching, but you and I are far away. Now, theknowing one speaketh not, and the speaking oneknoweth not. That is why the sage practises thedoctrine of non-speaking. The Tao cannot be broughtwithin human limits, nor can Virtue be reached byhuman means. That which does is humaneness ; thatwhich wants is righteousness; and that which deceivesis propriety. Therefore, when the Tao is lost, wehave virtue; when virtue is lost, then humaneness;when humaneness is lost, then righteousness ; whenrighteousness is lost, then propriety ; for the latter isthe blooming of the Tao and the beginning of disorder/


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 41PANTHEISTIC MYSTICISM.

When speculation reaches this point, it naturallyturns into mysticism. Intellectual discrimination andthe analytical process of reasoning give way to amystic contemplation of the Absolute. It is peculiarto the human mind that while the intellect is everstruggling to attain to a definite conception of theuniverse and to state it in most positive terms, theimagination and faith, poetic and religious, insists onconcretely and immediately grasping that somethingwhich is so slippery as to defy all realistic apprehension and yet presents itself with annoying persistence to our inner eye. The intellect sometimesgains ascendency, and then we have an outspokenexpression of positivism. When its days are gone, asthe history of thought proves everywhere, we havethe predominance of mystic tendencies in philosophy,and mysticism invariably tends towards pantheism.We find in Kwan-yin-tze this culmination of Taoism.

Kwan-yin-tze, according to Ssu Ma-ch ien s " Historical Records," seems to have been acquainted withLao-tze as we see from his request to the latter towrite a book on Taoism. Kwan-yin-tze, therefore, isearlier than Lieh-tze and Chwang-tze, but the workascribed to him, and still in our possession, is evidentlya later production, though it may contain some of hisown sayings scattered in the book. Strictly speaking,it may not be proper, therefore, to classify the Kwan-


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42 A BKIEF HISTOEY OFyin-tze 33 with Chwang-tze and Lieh-tze as Ante-Ch inliterature, but it contains many characteristic Taoistthoughts which can be regarded as a direct andunbroken linear development of Chwang-tze andLieh-tze. Hence its place here as the last of the Taoistthinkers.The Tao, according to Kwan-yin-tze, is that which

is above all thought and explanation. When thisTao is evolved, there appear heaven and earth andthe ten thousand things. But the Tao in itself doesnot fall under the categories of freedom and necessity,of mensuration and divisibility. Therefore it is calledHeaven (t ienJQ, Destiny (mingft), Spirit (shenjjff), orthe Mysterious (hsiien, s). It is each and all of these.As thus the one and only Tao asserts itself and manifests in all possible expressions and existences, thereis nothing that is not the Tao. All things are theTao itself. It is like the relation between fire andfuel. One flame of fire burns all kinds of fuel. Butthe fire is not independent of the fuel. When all thefuel burns out, there is no more fire left, as neither isseparable from the other. So, one breath of Taopenetrates throughout the ten thousand things. Theyare in it and it is in them ; they are it, and it is they.Find it in yourself and you know everything else, andwith it the mystery of heaven and earth (Book I) .

Therefore, the essence of heaven and earth is theessence of myself ; the spirit of heaven and earth isthe spirit of my existence. When one drop of water


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 43is merged into the waters of a boundless ocean, thereis no distinction between the two, but a completehomogeneity (IY, 3). Therefore the holy man recognizes unity in multiplicity, and multiplicity in unity(V, 2). The multitude may change, may go throughan endless series of transformation, but the one iseternally unchangeable (II, 9). Shadows come andgo, but the water which reflects them remains for evertranquil. The wise live in this tranquillity of the oneand serenely look at the coming and going of themany.As is seen here, the Kwan-yin-tze is filled with theMahayana Buddhist thoughts, which held sway

overChinese minds during the Sung dynasty, when almostall notable thinkers of the day rapped at one time oranother at the monastery door. The justifiable supposition, therefore, is that Kwan-yin-tze might havebeen produced by one of the Buddhist Taoists of thosedays, especially when we know that the book is ostensibly declared to have been recovered, though itsexistence was known during the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 23). Besides, there are certain terms in the textwhich were not yet known in the Ante-Ch in period,and which evidently point to their later introduction. Imean such terms as flfc $| (IY, 4) and fgj 5 (VII, 3).Taoism has such remarkable features in its doctrinethat a foreign origin has been suspected, which, someclaim, satisfactorily solves the question of its strikingresemblance to Hindu philosophy. They even go so


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44 A BRIEF HISTORY OFfar as to suggest the Brahmin descendancy of theYellow Emperor, Lao-tze, and other unknown Taoistthinkers. I will not enter upon a discussion of thispoint, but the fact remains that there are some significant points of resemblance between Taoism andBuddhism, and that the first Buddhist missionariesdrew a large part of their terminology from Taoistlore, and that as soon as Buddhism began to send itsroots down in Chinese soil, there were many attemptsto bring the two, Taoism and Buddhism, into onereligio-philosophical system, and, finally, that thepresent popular religion in China is a sort of conglomeration of these two teachings, one contributing toit with its polytheistic tendency and the doctrine ofKarma, and the other with its belief in heavenly immortality. Kwan-yin-tze, as we have already seen,and will see later, must be said to be one of thoseearly attempts in China which were made to reconcilethe pantheistic mystic tendency of Lao-tze andChwang-tze to Indian idealism. The Kwan-yin-tze ishighly interesting in this respect if not in any other.In what follows, the reader will notice how muchmore openly it breathes the spirit of Buddhism thanits predecessors.

"It is one Essence (ching >fjj) that becomes thecold in heaven, the water on earth, and the essencein man. It is one Spirit (shen ffff) that becomesthe heat in heaven, the fire on earth, and the spirit inman. It is one Animal Soul (po $J) that becomes


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46 EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHYfrom it, and it is cool. Only its outward influencesare coming and going, while the brick itself knowsneither coming nor going. To illustrate again : Seethe shadows cast in the water ; they come and go,but the water itself knows no coming, no going ;;(Book II).

" All things change, but their nature (ctii |^) isalways one. The wise know this oneness of things,and are never disturbed by outward signs. Our hairand nails are growing every minute, but the multitudeof people recognize the fact only when they becomevisible; they fail to know it through its potentialsigns. For this reason they think things change, andare born and die, while the wise look at them throughtheir inner signs and know that there is no changewhatever in their ultimate issuance " (Book VII).

" To illustrate : In the great ocean there are millions of millions of fishes, large and small; but onlyone body of water. I and this external worldwith its multitudinous things are existing in themidst of Great Evolution, but their essence is one.To him who knows the oneness of essence, there areneither men, nor death, nor life, nor I. The reasoningof this world may turn the true into the untrue, andthe untrue into the true ; arid again, it may makeenemies of friends and friends of enemies. Therefore,the wise, abiding in the eternality of things, think ofits changeable aspect }) (Book VII) .


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ETHICSTHE moral life can be said to have been the onlyphilosophical subject which, from the earliest stageof culture to the present day, has seriously interestedthe Chinese, and which has been considered worthyof their earnest speculation. This was even truewith the highly metaphysical and mystical school ofTaoism, whose followers were deeply interested in compounding an elixir of life and ascending to Heaven asa sien (fjlf, saint) without shedding their corporealbody; while it was the avowed object of Confucianismto discard all subtle reasonings about philosophicalproblems, but to confine itself to human life in itscivil, social, and moral bearings. If religion be represented by the Hebrews, philosophy by the Greeks,and mysticism by the Hindus, practical morality mustbe said to be the most characteristic trait of thethought which prevailed among the people of theMiddle Kingdom. It has been their inmost convictionthat the universe is the manifestation of a moralprinciple, and that every existence in its way hassome mission to teach humanity a moral lesson.

They did not, however, conceive the world to be47


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48 A BRIEF HISTORY OFthe creation of a personal god who superintends anddirects its course. Their Heaven (fieri), or Heavenlyway (fien tao), or Heavenly Ordeal (fien ming), is asort of natural law, that is not personal but somewhatdeterministic. When we do not follow its regulations,we suffer the consequence merely because we violatedit, and not because we incurred the displeasure ofsome august being. The Heavenly Way is thoroughlymoral, and would not tolerate anything that contradicts it, but no religious significance seems to havebeen attached to their conception. Man is a moralbeing pure and simple, there is no intimate relationbetween morality and religion, as the latter is generallyunderstood by Christians. Throughout the writingsof Confucius we are unable to find any religiousappeal made either by him or by his followers to apower supernatural or transcendental. If they hada clear conscience or were living in the blissful stateof non-action (u-u wei $fc ;g), they had everythingthat they desired, and there was nothing outsidethat would disturb their peace of mind. They werethoroughly moral, they were thoroughly human, theywere thoroughly mundane.

China is rich, therefore, in this class of literature;every thinker or philosopher worthy of the name hasdipped his fingers in the subject, expounding his viewsas to how we ought to behave while yet alive in theworld. But here the field is not monopolized betweenLao-tzeanism and Confucianism as in the case of


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 49philosophy. At least, there is one writer independentand original enough to stand alone by himself, thoughunfortunately his school did not make any furtherdevelopment beyond his own immediate disciples.By this I mean Mu-tze s utilitarianism. There is nodoubt that this would have been a fruitful system ifit could have found a proper support and encouragement among later scholars.

CONFUCIANISM.We shall begin our exposition of Chinese ethics

with Confucianism. Whatever influence might havebeen exercised by other scholars upon Chinese culture,modes of thinking, and social life, they were all outvied by Confucianism, which has been the choice ofthe people especially of the middle, learned, andofficial classes. The reason or at least one of theprincipal reasons why Confucius came to be sohonoured and distinguished by the Chinese as theirnational teacher was due to his common-sense ethicsbased on humanism and devoid of any mystical orsupernatural agency. The Chinese are a sober-mindedpeople, and liked Confucius in preference to all otherphilosophers.Another reason which favoured Confucianism wasthat it is pre-eminently a code of morality for Chinese

officialdom. As those who are at all acquaintedwith their history can testify, the one object mostpersistently pursued by all educated Chinese was

4


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50 A BRIEF HISTORY OFto obtain an official position with the Government.Their learning and education were not necessarilyto cultivate their mental and moral faculties, but toapply them practically to their official lives as thegoverning class. Learning was not sought for itsown sake, but as the means to rule the people.Confucianism, therefore, supplied them with a codeof morals as well as a practical political guide ;politics and ethics were the same thing with theChinese. Confucius himself worked indefatigably toput his theories into practice while yet living; butseeing that his efforts were not to be crowned withsuccess in his days, he retired from active politicallife and began to teach his pupils, the principal objectof which was to prepare them for the public service,so that they could succeed him after his death aspractical propagators of his doctrine, and not necessarily as transmitters of his vast learning. In thissense he was more of a political reformer than a moralleader, and thus it came to pass that Confucianismhas been the prevailing moral and political doctrinein China throughout its history, especially among themandarins.To understand Confucianism, we must start with

Confucius s doctrine of humanism, which forms thecorner-stone of his entire ethics, or at least it hasbeen so understood by his influential disciples.


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 51

JEN, THE FUNDAMENTAL VIRTUE.All Chinese thinkers admit that man and nature

are not mere accidents, that their existence cannotbe a haphazard affair, but that there is a Tao thatis, a way or norm which is the regulator of humanconduct and the guide of natural events. There wasno dissenting voice among the thinkers so far as theexistence of a Tao was concerned. What vehementlyengaged them in discussion and controversy was thebeing or nature of the Tao. The issue was whetherit was metaphysical or simply moral, whether it wastranscendental or positivistic. The Taoists thoughtit was the former, while the Confucians adhered tothe latter conception. The Tao, says Confucius, isno more than jen, and on this basis his ethics isfounded.Now, it is very difficult to find a proper English

equivalent for the Chinese jen. Broadly speaking,it is sympathy, or lovingkindness, or friendly feeling,or better, feeling of fellowship.The Chinese character (l, jen) is made out of

the two component ideograms \, man, and Htwo, and its signification is that there is an inbornfeeling in every man s heart, which is awakened toits full actuality when he comes in contact withanother fellow - being, forming the permanent bondof association between them. This feeling, Confuciusdeclares, is the foundation of society and the road


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52 A BRIEF HISTORY OFto all human virtues. It is the Tao; it is the roadwhich must be travelled by every social being; it isthe door that must be passed through when goingout

(" Analects," Book VI, 15) of the house. Nomoral being can live without this Tao, this road, forthat which can be dispensed with even for a momentis no more the Tao ("Chung Yung/ Chapter I).Therefore, the Tao is the feeling of fellowship, andthe feeling of fellowship is the Tao.

This fellow-feeling is the reason of the GoldenRule. Without it, one will not be kept from doingto others what one would not have done by others("Analects," XII, 2; XV, 23). For indeed thefeeling is that of humanity itself. Says Confucius :

.7

" A man who has jen, wishing to establish himself,will have others established ; wishing himself tosucceed, will have others succeed" (Book VI). Thefeeling of fellowship is the primary altruistic instinctof man, which in spite of his innate egoism driveshim out of his narrow selfish limitations, and whichseeks its own satisfaction through a negation, as itwere, of himself. Confucianism does not believe inthe innate baseness of human nature, that is, in itsabsolute egoism; but it asserts the existence of analtruistic impulse in every human heart. The latter isnot a modified development of egoism, but is inherentin humanity.

It is in this spirit that Mencius says : " Everybodyhas a feeling for others which he is unable to


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 53endure. . . . Suppose a child is at the point ofslipping down into a pit. It awakens in the spectatora mingled feeling of apprehension and compassion,which urges him to an immediate rescue of the child.This is not because he wants to incur a favour uponits parents. This is not because he wants to behonoured by his friends or fellow-villagers. This issimply because he cannot bear its pitiful scream.Men who have no feeling of pity, therefore, are nohuman beings" (Book Ila). As Schopenhauer madesympathy (Mitl&id) the foundation of his ethics, sothe Confucians consider feeling of fellowship as theprime principle on which the grand edifice of humansociety is built.

All virtues spring from jen. They are no morethan the modifications of this fundamental feeling, asin various ways it comes related to the will, intelligence, desires, and impulses. The circumstancesunder which we move are ever changing, and ourfeelings respond to them accordingly, assumingthereby different names, such as loyalty, filial piety,courage, propriety, faithfulness, righteousness, long-suffering, and benevolence. Therefore, Confuciusaffirms that in his dealings with men and things hehad only one principle (too) to guide him (" Analects,"Book IV, 15) and that by this he meant no morethan the feeling of fellowship, is confirmed by mostConfucians.Judging from the general trend of Confucianism,


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54 A BRIEF HISTORY OFonly two moral principles are possible : one is fellow-feeling or altruism, and the other is egoism (c/."Mencius," Book Ilia). When our feelings do notgo out to our fellow-beings, they are concentratedon our own selfish motives. When the latter senseis cultivated at the expense of the former, societyfalls into pieces and humanity is ruined, and theraison d etre of a moral being is lost. Mencius, therefore, says : " Jen (fellow-feeling) is man himself "(which is also pronounced yew in Chinese).To quote Mencius again : " Fellow-feeling is the

highest heavenly honour ever given to men. It isthe safest abode ever secured for men. There isnothing that could check its course " (" Mencius,"Book VII). Ch eng-tze,34 a great philosopher of theSung dynasty, says : t( Fellow-feeling is the norm ofthe universe. When the norm is lost there ensueslawlessness and discord." Chou-tze,35 another andlater great Confucian, comments on jen, saying :ff Jen is the virtue of the soul and the reason of love."It is interesting to contrast the Confucian definitionof jen with that of Han-fei-tze^ in his " Commentaryon Lao-tze " : " Jen is to love others with gladness ofheart, to rejoice when they are blissful, and to begrieved when they suffer misery. This is because theheart is unable to refrain from being so affected, andhas nothing to do with a desire for compensation.Therefore, says Lao-tze, Superior jen works as if notworking/


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 55But it must be noticed that jen was used by

Confucius as well as by his disciples, not only in itsgeneral and ultimate signification, but in its specificapplications. To them, jen meant not only the mostfundamental ethical feeling innate in man, but itsparticular modifications as practised in our daily life.Every reader of the Confucian "Analects" is wellaware of the various senses in which the term Jen isused by the Master, and we are sometimes at a losshow to arrive at a definite conception of it. But thefact seems to be that Confucius himself did not havea very clear analytical comprehension of jen, formingthe central idea of his ethics. It is true that he wasquite conscious of one ultimate principle which underlies all virtues and which is generically known as jen ;for he declared that in his daily conduct he wasguided by only one principle. But his applicationof the term jen indiscriminately to this principle aswell as to its practical specifications was somewhatconfusing. Hence the ambiguity in which jen isinvolved throughout the "Analects."

Dr. Y. Kaniye enumerates in his " Studies in Confucius " (p. 297) the five different shades of meaninggiven to jen by the Master, which are (I) prosperity,(2) kindheartedness, (3) charity, (4) sincerity andsympathy, (5) unselfishness (or self-control). Whenthe Chinese speak of three or five cardinal virtues,jen must be understood in its specific sense.37Now the question is : " How are we to cultivate


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56 A BKIBF HISTORY OFfellow-feeling and put it in actual operation in ourevery-day life ?" Tins is the gist of practical Confucianism, and the moral efforts of its followers areconcentrated upon the cultivation of this feeling.Even the Master himself did not claim to have broughthis fellow-feeling into perfect development, and naturally none of his three thousand disciples were said tohave attained to it. But Confucius declared towardthe end of his life : ( I behave myself as my heartdesires, yet it never transgresses the mean" ("Analects," Book II, 4). Here he may be said to havereached the state of perfect adjustment betweennatural impulses and moral discipline. He is nowjen itself. He has no scruples, no hesitancy, nodeliberation as to what would be his proper conductunder given conditions. He is no longer hamperedby any improper thoughts and impulses. When aperson reaches this stage, he is said to be a sage, crholy man (seng jen), and Confucius, according to theChinese, fully deserves this title. He behaves asfreely and innocently as a child fresh from the bosomof nature, and all that he does never deviates fromthe Middle Way (chung too *f* jg).

REVERENCE AND SELF-INSPECTION.Let us now approach the question : " By whatmeans can one reach this pinnacle of moral perfection 1"According to Confucius, ching jgfc or kimg ^ is


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EARLY CHINESE PHILOSOPHY 57the road that finally leads to the perfection of humanism and to the full development of fellow-feeling. Itis a reverential attitude of a moral person toward hisown being. Etymologically, kung $t is composed of" heart " and " many hands/ " many hands " meaning" together " or " conjoined." It is a state of mindprompting reverential deportment. Ching jjjfc, whichis composed of "mindfillness" and "gentle tapping,"means self-restraint, self-respect, deliberation, gravity,and dignity. Ching and kung are generally usedtogether to make the one clearer by the other andmore definite. But, separately, kung is more of theoutward deportment and ching of the inner feeling.When the feeling is carefully nourished and purifiedwithin, and the outward manners are deliberatelyadjusted, the egoistic impulse is gradually subdued,and the altruistic one proportionately strengthened,until the time comes when the two are thoroughlyharmonized.The Confucians have no personal Glod who directly

controls the human soul. They do not appeal to anyoutward object to be elevated in their moral life.They concentrate all spiritual efforts on themselves inorder to develop from within what they possess fromtheir very nature. They endeavour to be modest intheir self-asserting claims. They keep themselveswell guarded against any possible intrusion of evil,inhuman thoughts

a brief history of early chinese philosophy - daisetz teitaro suzuki 1914

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